Pediatric Cardiomyopathy — A Long Way to Go

Improvements in the treatment of congenital heart disease are among the most impressive medical achievements of the second half of the 20th century. In 1950, patent ductus arteriosus and aortic coarctation were the only correctable lesions, and the likelihood that an infant who received a diagnosis of heart disease in the 1960s would survive the first year of life was only 60 percent, whether treated medically or surgically.1 Between 1979 and 1997, infant mortality from heart disease declined by 39 percent,2 and survival rates continue to improve. In many centers, one-year survival rates for infants undergoing heart surgery now exceed . . .